Hi all - I just purchased a Move and pleased with the sound, but what I’m not too pleased about is the fact that it appears that I cannot control the volume of the Move when I play anything using the Sonos app. If I connect the phone to the Move with bluetooth I can indeed control the volume.
Is it just me, or does anyone else have the issue that they can’t control the volume when using the IOS Sonos app?
Appreciate any inputs as it’s very frustrating.
Agreed it’s not great, to be honest is Sonos made a small remote control available, that would go some way to improving the situation would it not?
+17
Try the IKEA Dirigera. You’d need an IKEA bridge and remote.
These arguments from Sonos are cheap and pretextual. If I want to play my music from my local library, I can no longer use the Apple side buttons. And the library is just a fileshare, not a service or server. I think Apple understands the need for this function and it would be a great feature for Sonos to control the volume with the watch. Win win. But no, profit optimization comes before customer satisfaction.(from both sides)
But what do you expect from a company whose software gets worse, slower and more restrictive with every new release? The latest 'highlight' from Sonos is that with the new suggested search function, the local library is no longer listed. Or hires Flac in the combination Play R+L+ Sub have interruptions.
As soon as something goes wrong with the hardware, all the crap goes out. Unfortunately, the hardware is quite good but the software is an absolute joke and is only developed with minimal profit-optimized effort.
I must say, when companies are so protectionist it does tend to turn me off them. Seems like Apple want to create a monopoly, or as close to it as they can get legally. Does anyone know if it’s the same situation with android phones, or is this exclusively an Apple generated issue?
I'm using an Android phone and you can control sonos volume with hardware buttons even when you're not in the sonos app. It's pretty cool. I bought an iphone 13 mini today, and just discovered that i can't control volume with hardware button anymore.
I got 6 sonos speakers... im so disappointed. It's going to be a nightmare
Re: “the only choices Sonos has is to comply, or be removed from the App Store”. Is there any specific documentation on Apple’s policy about this? Has Sonos discussed this directly with apple? Probably not public info, but seems to me that they are a big enough company with some weight to do so. I would be relatively ok with sacrificing volume controls if the Sonos app was any good (IMO it is horrible for music fans). The only reason I use it at all is because atmos is only available directly through the Sonos app. Aside from that, I’d be happy to not use the Sonos app & would be fine with it being removed from the app store. Assuming that speaker setup still works, of course.
Re: “the only choices Sonos has is to comply, or be removed from the App Store”. Is there any specific documentation on Apple’s policy about this? Has Sonos discussed this directly with apple? Probably not public info, but seems to me that they are a big enough company with some weight to do so. I would be relatively ok with sacrificing volume controls if the Sonos app was any good (IMO it is horrible for music fans). The only reason I use it at all is because atmos is only available directly through the Sonos app. Aside from that, I’d be happy to not use the Sonos app & would be fine with it being removed from the app store. Assuming that speaker setup still works, of course.
Nobody knows about this issue, but we do know the last time Apple did something like this (removed the ability to play songs located on the iDevice), Sonos tried for over a year to work with Apple, and Apple never budged.
As to removing the app? Your system would not be able to be administered to without using the app. No adding new devices, configuring rooms, voice control, Trueplay, etc. So though you may be content without it, the vast majority would not. Thus that choice is not a choice at all for Sonos.
Re: “the only choices Sonos has is to comply, or be removed from the App Store”. Is there any specific documentation on Apple’s policy about this? Has Sonos discussed this directly with apple? Probably not public info, but seems to me that they are a big enough company with some weight to do so. I would be relatively ok with sacrificing volume controls if the Sonos app was any good (IMO it is horrible for music fans). The only reason I use it at all is because atmos is only available directly through the Sonos app. Aside from that, I’d be happy to not use the Sonos app & would be fine with it being removed from the app store. Assuming that speaker setup still works, of course.
Nobody knows about this issue, but we do know the last time Apple did something like this (removed the ability to play songs located on the iDevice), Sonos tried for over a year to work with Apple, and Apple never budged.
As to removing the app? Your system would not be able to be administered to without using the app. No adding new devices, configuring rooms, voice control, Trueplay, etc. So though you may be content without it, the vast majority would not. Thus that choice is not a choice at all for Sonos.
Let me rephrase - I’d be perfectly content with not using the Sonos App for the UX side of things with organizing / browsing / playing music / podcasts etc. Understood that it’s required for any hardware related management. That’s the problem though, it’s a catch 22 for the end user.
Yep, it’s unfortunate that Apple forced this change.
As to documentation to the policy, Apple has rejected apps in the past for altering the hardware buttons:
In August, Apple rejected the photo app Camera+ when it included a volume-snap feature, because changing the behavior of the iPhone's external hardware buttons was strictly prohibited.
This was 13 years ago though.
The IKEA drigera option is unacceptably expensive and unnecessary
Lets not defend the shortcomings of what is pitched as a premium product and system which has no right in placing it's loyal committed customers in the middle of a technical dispute rather than finding a viable cost free solution........
Wouldn’t you expect that Sonos discussed this with Apple at length, long before we became aware of it? Certainly that would not be public information, but it would be madness not to. I’ve certainly had my share of conversations with Apple folks, while representing another company’s interests. It would seem madness to me that Sonos wouldn’t have fought tooth and nail about several of these changes forced on them by both Apple and Google, but a company the size of Sonos against behemoths that offer Operating System that Sonos relies on is a challenge, and of course Sonos won’t oublically shake the boat, no matter how unhappy they may be. They’re still beholden to these companies to run the Sonos software on their OS.
I understand that you’d be OK with Sonos pulling their software from the Apple Store, and making it a download from the website only. I’ve not got research and numbers to back me up, but I suspect that option was looked at, and discarded by the Product Managers at Sonos, as it might lose them a larger portion of their users. Sonos does seem to have a marketing thrust of ‘ease of use’ more than anything else. I look at that as ‘something my mother could run easily, not overly complex’. If my mother had to go to a website to update the software on her Sonos (were she still alive), she’d rather immediately stop using and purchasing Sonos. I suspect there is a large portion of Sonos users who are the same, much larger than the population savvy enough to frequent this forum, and post.
It would be really nice if Sonos was more customizable. I see suggestions frequently here in this forum about adding this or that, all which make sense individually, but when you imagine each and every option and how it would fit in an ease of use application, it become no longer that…no ease of use, just a bewildering bevy of option that likely less than 1% of users would want to use, and way less than that which would use those options properly.
I don’t always agree with Sonos. However, I want them to stay in business, and continue their support for the system I have in my home. Perhaps at some point, a competitor will develop a better system, and I’ll jump ship…but so far, in the last 15 years, that hasn’t happened, and Sonos continues to evolve in both areas I do care about, and areas I don’t. As long as they continue to exist, I’m happy.
I’ve been a Sonos customer for over 10 years now, pretty heavily invested in the system. But I hate the app with a passion, frustrated that Sonos doesn’t appear to be interested in improving it beyond security and hardware functionality issues. Anyways, seems that there’s no more discussion to be had about the iphone button controls, which is unfortunate given that users are locked into using the sonos app for atmos.
I have a very sensitive ear and can tell the slightest difference in music. Sending music to the Move speaker from iPhone is nice. However, sending music to Move from the Sonos app is stunning. So, is it possible to change the volume on the iPhone before opening the Sonos app? I just blew out my ears with volume at max and no way to turn it down.
By the way, what has happened to the antitrust laws?
PS - Previous discussion about the app itself if interested:
+17
Or use Google Assistant to either change the volume before starting up music using your voice or set a daily command to change the volume at a certain time.
This was 13 years ago though.
Do you have any evidence the policy has changed?
Which brings to bear a question similar to what
No sane company hacks something which is actually allowed by the rules. Similarly, no sane company removes functionality when it has no reason to do so. Sure there are those who can think up silly reasons like “They hate their customers!” or “Sonos are big meanies!” or “They don’t want to support it anymore!” when it probably took more man hours to take it out of the code than it does to support it in the first place, but in reality, there are no logical reasons except that the decision was forced upon them by Apple.
Fair enough, but if that is indeed the case, then they should be making an urgent effort to improve the app UX. Which they don’t appear to be doing. The focus seems to be on selling the hardware and keeping customers in their ecosystem. I get it from a profit perspective, but it sucks for their longtime customers.
Fair enough, but if that is indeed the case, then they should be making an urgent effort to improve the app UX. Which they don’t appear to be doing. The focus seems to be on selling the hardware and keeping customers in their ecosystem. I get it from a profit perspective, but it sucks for their longtime customers.
UX is a very subjective thing. I don’t seem to have the problems other claim to have. Then again, I’m pretty skeptical when it comes to UX “science”. It seems more the flavor of the day than anything to do with actual performance or efficiency.
I won’t get into all the gory details of why I hate it so much (you can read the thread I posted for that). But I think it goes beyond a subjective opinion when very basic things like album release dates are missing. Maybe most people don’t care about such things, but music fans definitely do.
I'd bet money that if an anonymous customer survey were conducted, the majority of people using the Sonos app wouldn't like it. Most people on the support boards here seem to be fine with it, but if you look elsewhere there are many complaints. Taking a brief look in the apple app store reviews, the overall star score is likely inflated because many people write negative 5 star reviews. I guess to make sure their reviews aren’t deleted (which mine was when I attempted to review).
Here’s another thread about it:
For the family and myself (friends too) it’s just a ‘remote control’ App for playing/controlling music on our speakers - I mostly concentrate more on the music than the App.
As I said, I use it without even thinking about it, as I’ve got so used to it and know where everything is… I know the App inside out and back to front and I’m fine with the UX - it’s as easy to use as any TV remote, I find. I have no issue searching/playing/contolling anything. “It does what it says on the tin”.
I find it really simple to use, but perhaps that’s because I’ve used the App since in was first launched (and I used the old App/interface for a long time too) and there’s no doubt I will likely use any new Sonos App, if they do ever launch one, as has been hinted at on this and many other websites.
My complaints are not about the “remote control” aspect of the app, which is simple enough. And works consistently for me (though others have issues). I would love to see it working better as a music discovery service as well, which it really doesn’t excel at since there’s little to no info about artists / albums / etc. But the Sonos business decision seems to be that they have built an API for third-party services to use, and that’s the end of the discussion.
+22
Sonos could make a really great App, ignoring both the Apple and Google store rules, and let customers install it directly from the Sonos site after opening up their phone’s locks.
Of course every App that I know of that has tried this has died soon after they got booted from the stores.
Has anyone tried the new (to me) Apple Speaker at $399? As I get older, I am beginning to believe using software and hardware from the same company might limit the problems trying to setup things.
……well, yes!
Ok great, thanks
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